Jayme Closs, 13, pictured for first time after her escape

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01/12/2019

‘Nothing makes me happier than seeing that smile’: Kidnap victim Jayme Closs, 13, is pictured for the FIRST TIME as she is reunited with her aunt and dog a day after her miraculous escape as wellwishers donate $50,000 to the brave teen

Jake Thomas Patterson is in custody on two charges of first degree intentional homicide in the deaths of Jayme’s parents and one count of kidnapping

Jayme Closs, 13, was found alive in Douglas County, Wisconsin

Police said Patterson shaved his head to hide evidence

They have recovered the shotgun used the night of the double homicide at his cottage prison

The teen has been pictured just hours after she was found alongside her aunt in a photo shared to Facebook

She was abducted from her home in October, when her parents, James and Denise Closs, were murdered

Police now say she was ‘targeted’ but that there was no previous contact

The company Jayme’s parents worked at for 27 years issued a statement Friday saying Patterson was hired one day but quit the next

Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald say unemployed Patterson ‘planned his actions and took many steps to hide his identity’

Jayme located in town of Gordon 70 miles from her home Barron, Wisconsin

Teen described by couple as ‘skinny, dirty and wearing shoes too big for her feet’

Jayme said ‘who she believed had her’ and spoke about ‘being locked up’

Her relieved family have said she ‘is talking and doing very well’

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The missing teen found alive after being kidnapped from her home in October has been pictured in a beautiful reunion with her aunt and dog just hours after her miraculous escape.

Jayme Closs, 13, is pictured smiling alongside her aunt Jennifer Smith, who is now her guardian, in the new image, which was taken on Friday.

The photo was shared by the Facebook page ‘Healing for Jayme Closs’ and reads: ‘Nothing makes me happier right now than seeing this photo. Seeing this reunion, seeing that smile! We love you Jayme!’

It added on Friday evening: ‘Jayme’s aunt sent us this photo two hours ago and has given permission for it to be reposted.’

Jake Thomas Patterson, 21, is accused of kidnapping the teen and killing her mom and dad after ‘targeting’ the 13-year-old girl in their house in Barron, Wisconsin.

They confirmed Patterson, from Gordon, Wis., is in custody on two charges of first degree intentional homicide in the deaths of Jayme Closs’ parents and one count of kidnapping. Police say the family did not know the accused.

The Facebook page also shared that a fundraiser has been set up for wellwishers to contribute to. It has raised almost $50,000 as of 7.30am Saturday.

Facebook page Healing for Jayme Closs posted: ‘After hundreds of requests from the public, we’ve gotten permission from Jayme’s aunt/guardian Jennifer, to create an online fundraiser to support Jayme.’

The official fundraising page added: ‘This fund has been set up with permission from her family, and will be turned over to Jayme’s legal guardian at the end of the fundraiser to support Jayme in the difficult road to recovery ahead for her.’

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Jayme Closs, 13, is pictured smiling alongside her aunt just hours after her escape

Facebook page Healing for Jayme Closs posted: ‘After hundreds of requests from the public, we’ve gotten permission from Jayme’s aunt/guardian Jennifer, to create an online fundraiser to support Jayme’

Jake Thomas Patterson, of Gordon, Wis., has been jailed on kidnapping and homicide charges in the October killing of a Wisconsin couple and abduction of their teen daughter, Jayme Closs

Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald released additional details Friday evening and said the suspect went to great lengths to alter his physical appearance and hide evidence of the alleged murder, including shaving his head.

Police say they have recovered the shotgun used to shoot open door October 15 as well as other guns.

President of the Jennie-O Turkey Store in Barron, Steve Lykken, also said Patterson once worked at her parents’ employer before quitting after a single day.

He issued a statement Friday saying Patterson was hired one day but quit the next, explaining that he was moving away from the area.

An obituary for James and Denise Closs says they worked at the turkey processing plant for 27 years.

Unemployed Patterson had no previous criminal history and was not on the radar of police. They say they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the case.

Police believe Patterson – said to have hidden the girl in the home he grew up in – killed the Wisconsin couple because he wanted to abduct their daughter. They say she was ‘the only target’.

The teen vanished from her home in Barron, Wisconsin on October 15, the same day the teenager’s parents, James, 56, and Denise Closs, 46, (above) were found shot dead inside

Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald say Patterson ‘planned his actions and took many steps to hide his identity’. She was kept in a ‘home in a remote area’ of Douglas County, Fitzgerald said.

He said: ‘Jayme was taken against her will and escaped from the residence at which she was being held in. We also don’t believe at this time the suspect had any contact with the family. We do believe that Jayme was the only target.

‘I can tell you that the subject planned his actions and took many proactive steps to hide his identity from law enforcement and the general public.

‘It appears he concealed her from other people … his friends.’

He was pulled over by police in his car just minutes after Jayme was found and gave a description of the vehicle.

Fitzgerald said he doesn’t know if Jayme was abused by her captor and that detectives are now interviewing her about her ordeal.

Patterson lived three doors down from the woman who called 911 to report that a missing 13-year-old Wisconsin girl had been found.

Teacher Kristin Kasinskas says she taught him middle school science but only remembers that he was quiet.

Kasinskas says she didn’t see Patterson during the months that Jayme was missing.

She added: ‘I don’t really remember a ton about him. He seemed like a quiet kid. I don’t recall anything that would have explained this, by any means.’

It comes as another neighbor of Patterson says she and her husband had problems with him siphoning gas years ago.

Daphne Ronning told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Patterson’s parents moved to Gordon about 15 years ago.

She says the parents later moved away but Patterson and his brother continued to use the home. She says she and her husband once caught them siphoning gas. She says her husband spoke with them and they didn’t have any further problems.

Ronning says she didn’t know Patterson was living in the house and hadn’t seen Jayme around.

Jeanne Nutter, pictured Friday, was walking her dog near the cabin she owns with her husband Forrest when she found Jayme Closs coming out of nearby woods

Kristin and Peter Kasinskas, pictured, say their neighbor had a skinny, dirty girl with matted hair wearing shoes several sizes too big for her feet standing next to her

It has also since emerged that ownership of the remote cabin where she was apparently held was passed to a credit union soon after her abduction.

Patterson’s father transferred the title of the cabin near Gordon to Superior Choice Credit Union on Oct. 23 – eight days after the attack at the Closs family’s home, according to records.

Jayme was described as ‘skinny and dirty but outwardly OK’ by the couple who called 911 after the teenager flagged down dogwalker Jeanne Nutter in rural Wisconsin.

FBI Special Agent Justin Tolomeo said: ‘In cases like this we often need a big break, and it was Jayme herself who gave us that break.’

Fitzgerald says Closs was medically cleared, is out of the hospital and is being interviewed by law enforcement.

She was taken from her home in Barron, Wisconsin on October 15, the same day her parents, James, 56, and Denise Closs, 46, were found shot dead inside.

The Barron County Sheriff’s Department confirmed Thursday evening that Jayme has been located in Douglas County.

The board chairman of Gordon said Jayme was found at Eau Claire Acres, a development located about 70 miles away from her home.

The teen approached a woman walking her dog, and told the stranger she had been kidnapped and that a man killed her parents.

Jayme was found at Eau Claire Acres, a development located about 70 miles away from her home in Barron

Dogwalker Jeanne Nutter went with Jayme to her neighbors house and pounded on their door. She says Jayme had walked away from a cabin not far from her place where she had been held.

Nutter, a social worker, said: ‘I went to her and she just sort of grabbed onto me and she told me who she was. She’s a traumatized child. I believe she was just maybe in shock.

‘I’m just happy that she’s safe. I feel like it’s sort of a miracle that she’s still alive. I’m glad my dog wanted to go for a walk and we did and there she was. My goal was to get her to a safe place and I did. The police were amazing.’

Kristin and Peter Kasinskas say their neighbor had a skinny, dirty girl with matted hair, wearing shoes several sizes too big for her feet standing next to her. The neighbor shouted, ‘This is Jayme Closs! Call 911!’

Kristin told the Today Show: ‘She knocked on our door, and then actually opened our door and said call 911.

‘I think we recognized Jayme immediately. I mean, her picture has been everywhere around here, billboards and things so we recognized her immediately.

‘She seemed kind of in shock and kind of timid, but she did talk to us a little bit, and she came in and sat down in our living room and was able to have a conversation with us.’

‘She didn’t give us a ton of detail. I had asked her if she knew where Gordon, Wisconsin, was. She did not know where Gordon was, and she didn’t know where she was at the time. She was – she did state who she believed had her, and she did give us a little information about the person’s car. But other than that she didn’t give us a ton of detail about.’

Kristin was asked if the person she mentioned was someone she knew in the community. Kristin said: ‘I recognized the name when I was told it but not somebody I knew well by any means.’

The home where teenager Jayme Closs lived with her parents before their brutal murder three months ago pictured today

The entrance to Eau Claire Acres in Gordon, Wisconsin where Jake Thomas Patterson was arrested in the kidnapping of Jayme Closs and the murder of her parents

‘She looked thinner than her pictures. We offered her a beverage. We offered her something to eat. She said she didn’t want anything to eat or drink,’ Kristin Kasinskas, who found Jayme (pictured), said

Asked about whether Jayme told her how she escaped, Kristin said: ‘Not really. She kind of talked about being locked up or hidden when this person had to leave, but she did not go into any detail about how she got away.

‘She looked thinner than her pictures. We offered her a beverage. We offered her something to eat. She said she didn’t want anything to eat or drink. She was comfortable. She just was cold, so we did give her a blanket, but yeah, she didn’t want food or anything to drink. I would – I guess I would describe her as looking kind of unkempt.

‘I don’t know (if she seemed afraid). It wasn’t like she was scared of us. She wasn’t crying or upset. She was just very calm.’

Peter Kasinskas told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that Jayme was quiet and showed little emotion. He says she told them she didn’t know where she was or anything about Gordon, the small town near where she was found.

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Kristin Kasinskas neighbor who called 911- Jayme Closs and the dog walker approached the home of Kristin Kasinskas, pictured, and asked her to call 911

A thank you sign is displayed in Barron after Jayme was found alive more than three months after she disappeared. It reads: ‘Thank you for bringing her home’

A ‘Welcome Home Jayme’ sign is displayed for the teen’s return home on January 11, 2019 in Barron, Wisconsin

A statement from police said: ‘We want to thank the Douglas Co Sheriff’s Department and agencies assisting them tonight. We also want to thank all the Law Enforcement agencies across the state and county that have assisted us in this case.

‘We also could not have endured this case without the support of the public and I want to thank them for all the support and help.

‘Finally, we want to especially thank the family for their support and patience while this case was ongoing.

‘We promised to bring Jayme home and tonight we get to fulfill that promise. From the bottom of my heart THANK YOU!’

Jayme’s relieved family have said the teen is ‘talking, doing great and getting rest right now’.

Her aunt, Kelly Engelhardt, told KARE 11 that the news is what the family has ‘prayed for’ every day.

‘I honestly had faith… I figured if they hadn’t found her by now that the person that did this didn’t want her dead, so I had hope. Every day there was hope. We had too much love and support around us for us to give up,’ her aunt said.

Diane Trembley, the superintendent of Barron County, said: ‘We want to thank Jayme for being so courageous and for achieving an opportunity to find a way back to us. What an extraordinary young lady..

She confirmed there will be a celebration for Closs, who is a student at Riverview Middle School in Barron, in the community.

Volunteers cross a creek and barbed wire near Barron, Wisconsin on October 23, 2018, on their way to a ground search for Jayme

The teen’s uncle, Jeff Closs, said he is shocked and beyond grateful for the outcome they desperately hoped for.

‘It was just unbelievable because you hear about… you’re not sure if she’s not going to be found. And when you actually hear it, it’s just unbelievable. We’re all just so grateful and happy.

‘We thought it was going to be a different ending and we’re so happy… hopefully she’s OK, we don’t know what condition. Just she’s alive.’

Her emotional grandfather Robert Naiber told GMA: ‘Wow. Whoopie. I’ve never been so happy for two months.’

The teen’s aunt Jennifer Smith added: ‘I haven’t got to see her yet but I get to see her this afternoon and I hear she is doing great and she’s getting rest right now.

‘We have her at a hospital and they’re getting her checked out and they have a suspect in custody and that’s all I know so far. She’s talking, yep, and she’s doing very well.’

The entrance to Eau Claire Acres in Gordon, Wisconsin where Jake Thomas Patterson was arrested over the kidnapping of Jayme Closs and the murder of her parents

Kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart has also paid tribute to Jayme and has offered her support to the ‘brave, strong and powerful 13-year-old survivor’.

She wrote in an emotional Instagram post: ‘What a miracle!!! Jayme Closs has been found!!!! I’m so thrilled to hear the news. What has been such a heart wrenching tragedy finally has some happiness in the story.’

Smart said she would expect that Jayme will have to confront the fact that there ‘is no going back to the way things were’. She said she recommends that Jayme’s friends and family give her space and allow her to make her own decisions.

Elizabeth was was 14 when she was held in the woods by Wandaa Barzee and Brian David Mitchell for nine months.

Jayme’s name was added to the top of the FBI’s Missing Persons list and has been on digital billboards across the nation since she vanished four months ago.

In December, Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald shared troubling details about the crime scene with DailyMail.com.

Fitzgerald said the killer was in the Closs home for only four minutes, during which they stepped just five feet into the open plan house, shot James and Denise and took Jayme.

Both Denise and James died ‘instantly’ of their wounds, the sheriff said.

Kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart has paid tribute to fellow kidnapping victim Jayme Closs and has offered her support to the teen who was found Thursday

Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped for nine months in 2002 aged 14 in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is pictured in March 2018

Despite a mysterious inaudible 911 call made from her mother’s cell at 12.54am, when police arrived at 12.58am, they revealed there was no sign that Jayme resisted her abductor. There was nothing taken and nothing disturbed.

In fact, there was no forensic evidence of any intruder at all.

Fitzgerald said: ‘That’s the frustrating part of it. We’ve had four different lab teams look at the scene before we released it. We were very strategic. When we discovered it was a major crime, we sealed it off immediately.

‘But if I’m in your house for minutes and I only step five feet inside your home I’m probably not going to leave a big footprint.’

He added: ‘It doesn’t appear that anything was taken, it doesn’t appear that Jayme packed up any clothing.’

Fitzgerald said at a press conference in October: ‘I’m telling you – Jayme is missing and endangered.’

Searches of her social media, cell phone and computer have offered no evidence of a boyfriend or anyone she met anyone online who might have targeted her or her parents.